MORE than 500 people in Nantwich have signed a petition opposing a bid to open a sex supermarket in the town.

MORE than 500 people in Nantwich have signed a petition opposing a bid to open a sex supermarket in the town.

Simply Pleasure, tagged the Tesco of the sex world, say it is looking at sites in Crewe and Nantwich with the intention of opening the biggest sex store in Europe.

But shopkeeper Audrey Bernard, who runs a women's clothes store in Beam Street is outraged by the proposal. During the past few weeks she has been touring the town urging traders to unite to fight the bid.

On Friday she handed a petition signed by 560 people to Crewe and Nantwich borough councillor Penny Butterill and Nantwich Town Council chairperson, Joyce Stockton.

Cllr Butterill, who is a member of the council's development control panel, is passing the petition on to the council's planning department.

She said: 'I will be pleased to pass the petition on to the appropriate officer. There is obviously considerable opposition to the scheme.

'Simply Pleasure have not yet put in a planning application but they had stated several times that they are still looking throughout the borough for a suitable site.'

Cllr Stockton added: 'I thoroughly agree with Audrey Bernard when she says that Nantwich is not the type of town to accommodate a huge sex shop.

'I congratulate her on her efforts. I believe it is important that people become watchdogs for the town, because if we are not careful we could find ourselves swamped by things we don't want.'

Campaigning Mrs Bernard said: 'Nantwich is a lovely little town which is known through the UK for its superb old buildings.

'I believe that several years ago the planners failed us by allowing some of our old buildings to be pulled down, and by allowing inappropriate development, particularly in the Swine Market area.

'We should urge them in the strongest possible terms not to allow a massive sex shop to be built in the town.

Simply Pleasure director Chris Brown said: 'I think people have the wrong impression of our shops. There are no blacked-out windows or sleaziness. Everything we sell can be seen on display in our windows.

'We are not put off by opposition and if we see a site somewhere in the borough which we think is suitable we will still go for it.'